Thai resort, American seek to settle defamation case over negative reviews

Sea View Koh Chang hotel sued US teacher Wesley Barnes after ‘false and defamatory’ reviews on TripAdvisor and Google over a corkage row

He faced up to five years in prison under Thailand’s strict defamation and computer crimes laws, but both parties have now agreed to mediation

Reading Time:2 minutes

Sea View Resort took legal action against the American teacher over negative online reviews. Photo: Handout

Published: 10:30pm, 1 Oct 2020Updated: 11:35pm, 1 Oct 2020

A Thai island hotel will go into mediation with an American guest who faces up to five years in jail after it filed a criminal complaint against him over negative online reviews, both parties said on Thursday.

The case involving the Sea View Koh Chang hotel and American teacher Wesley Barnes has drawn new scrutiny to Thailand’s criminal defamation and computer crimes laws, which rights activists say are far too harsh.

The Sea View Koh Chang said in an email that mediation had been set for October 8 with Barnes, who works in Thailand.

“It seems like the hotel is ready to settle,” Barnes said in a message to Reuters. “I will meet them next week to hopefully end this case once and for all. It would be wonderful to have this behind us.”

Police said Sea View Koh Chang had filed a complaint in August after Barnes posted what the hotel described as “false and defamatory reviews” on TripAdvisor and Google after a row over a 500 baht (US$16) corkage fee.

The hotel said it had reported the reviews to TripAdvisor and that some of them were deleted by the site administrator.